I kept getting asked to appear as Wang Newton at parties. Each time I kept thinking, "This is weird, but OK, fine." Mostly because I did not grow up listening to Wayne Newton and I was also not previously exposed to drag kings. There are much more Western culture coming-out stories of "my parents accept me and love me unconditionally." There are very few happy stories I hear from Asian cultures — most contain shame, disgracing the family, staying in the closet, general repression, to negative backlash in the coming-out process.
It took me a few years to get used to this wild masculine emergence. I hid Wang from coworkers and from family for a year or two. Keep in mind this is in 2004, before social media or RuPaul's Drag Race. While Wang, the persona, looked a hot mess, my friends always knew me as a silly queer forever turning looks. They accepted me.
But the gut feeling was beyond strong, and I'm glad I allowed myself to be pulled forth. By Christmas, I felt it was time to be paid — not out of arrogance, but because I was already a club promoter with a following.
Image Source: Photo by Hedy Chang courtesy of LEZS Magazine